New Visitors: It is recommended you read from the beginning of the archive, as previous
lessons are prerequisite to this one. The first lesson is, "Why
This Discussion?"

Q: I have
been practicing Sambhavi Mudra and Mulabandha now for maybe a month, and I
am having trouble in opening my third eye. No sensations at all. Do you have
any suggestion as to how to open it, or do I continue as instructed until it
does?

Meanwhile, I have experienced a kind of merging or dissolving
of my body from the inner self to the outside of myself. It's like a
perception. I feel this is a very good sign and I wanted to share it with
you. Can you elaborate?

One last thing. It has been a year of AYP,
and it is really paying off during activities of daily life. A deep sense of
peace, reverence for all on this planet, and love becoming everywhere, where
in the past there was a lot of fear. I now know that I have finally found
something that is truly directing my life in so many ways I would never had
imagined.

A: "Sensations" are not a prerequisite for opening the
third eye. In fact, sensations of the physical and energetic variety are
indications that further purification and opening are yet to come. This is
also true of "visions," which are still in the temporal realm, projected by
the mind as having spacial dimensions and duration. Ultimately, the opening
of the third eye has little to do with our perceptions and mental
projections in time and space.

What then is
the opening of the third eye?

Put quite simply, it is the awakening
and expansion of the spinal nerve (sushumna), which is a
combination/blending of rising inner silence and ecstatic conductivity. In
terms of the traditional spiritual anatomy, the third eye covers the spinal
nerve from the center brow back to the center of the brain, and down through
the medulla oblongata. It is the top part of the spinal
nerve. This is the area that receives the most attention, and where
some symptoms of purification and opening may
occur. But, in fact, the spiritual anatomy of the third eye reaches all the
way down to the root in the area of the perineum. When the third eye is
opening, it is a whole body experience, and not necessarily only of
energetic symptoms, visions, etc. It can also be along the lines you have
described a sense of the body dissolving, and an increasing sense of Oneness
with all we experience in life. From this, we can say that your third eye is
indeed opening!

Mudras and bandhas help this along on the ecstatic
conductivity side, though we need not expect any particular kind of
symptoms. The experience will vary, depending on the nature of inner
obstructions, and the skill and consistency with
which we have been conducting our daily practice over
time. Clearly the daily attention you have been giving to deep
meditation and spinal breathing pranayama has been paying off, and you can
be confident that all is happening as it should. Just continue and the
results will grow. This applies to the use of mudras, bandhas and other
practices also. Just do them like clockwork, self-pacing as necessary for
good progress with comfort. That is all there is to it.

Many expect
to "see something" through the third eye, and a lot of effort (mental
projection) may go into this, without adding anything to spiritual progress.
There are many levels of seeing, with spiritual intuition being the most
basic, and most important. The dimensional "seeing" of colors, tunnel and
star, lokas, beings, etc. are least important. The rise of these kinds of
experiences has been called the development of a "sixth sense" clairvoyance,
clairaudience, and so on. These are fairly common
occurrences along the way. But the opening of the third
eye is far more than that. It is the growth of divine intuition that is the
real payoff. This is "seeing" what cannot be seen, even
with the subtle senses, and living what is beyond temporal life. It
is a knowing without knowing, which leads automatically to doing without
doing. "Stillness in action." Then we have become
a channel for an endless divine outpouring. This is what real third eye
opening is, far beyond the interesting trinkets of
ecstatic energy surges and psychic experience.

With well-managed daily practices, our
intuition grows to the point where we naturally know what is evolutionary in
all situations we encounter on this earth plane.
We do not have to know why. It comes from within,
from beyond the mind. We find we can stand
firm in That which is unmoved and all moving.
It
is this spiritual intuition that comes through an
opening and maturing of the third eye. The third eye (ajna) is a channel for
expressing ourselves on this earth plane, because
it ties together all the components associated with spiritual intuition and
evolutionary action heart, mind, body, inner silence and divine ecstasy. The
product is outpouring divine love, which is why our actions toward others
are always the best measure of our spiritual condition, and the condition of
our third eye.

So we go from sensory perceptions in time and space,
to sixth sense perceptions beyond the five physical senses, to intuitive
seeing and divine wisdom in stillness, etc. It is an evolution beyond the
sights and sounds (scenery) of our spiritual anatomy.

This is why we always say, favor the practice over
the experience, or any idea (judgment) we may be having about a lack of
experience. These are certainly distractions from the main event, which is
our inner opening that cannot be measured, except in the quality of our
daily life. That is the place to find it. What our expectations are about
results during practice have little to do with anything, except our
motivation to practice, so it is good to cultivate an attitude of "just keep
going," no matter what.

Of course, self-pacing is a fine-tuning of
this, where we reduce practices as necessary if the rate of purification and
opening is becoming too much. You have been doing very well with that for
the past year, having excellent results, and you should continue.

We
are not in this for a temporal opening of the third eye, seeing lights,
rainbow tunnels, stars, or any particular glitzy experience. We are in it
for cultivating permanent abiding inner peace, creativity and happiness
everywhere. Sounds like you are doing very well in that.

Yes, the
most important results are found in ordinary daily living. Wonderful you are
seeing that emerging in your life. It is the
opening of your third eye. So carry on.